PortaLaw has been a registered benefit company since January 25, 2021. This means we are a for-profit business that promotes public benefits such as charitable, economic, education or environment activities.

We are required by law to publish an annual report about our benefit-related activities. This report covers PortaLaw’s activities during our last fiscal year (November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023). See our previous benefit reports: 

• 2021 report

• 2022 report

Certified B Corporation. On December 19, 2022, PortaLaw became a Certified B Corporation. This certification confirms our commitment to using business as a force for good.

Diversity + Inclusion. In November 2022, Erin Brandt and Paula Krawus were interviewed by the The Thoughtful Co. on what an employee should know before signing an employment contract. The Thoughtful Co. is a consultancy focused on advancing equity for women in the workplace.

Environment. Our entire team continues to work primarily from home, only driving out to our workshare space (Suite Genius) on a part-time basis. We also continue to rely on different e-solutions to assist with our work (for example, Telus Business Connect, Lawmatics, and Clio Manage), subscribe to textbooks online through CLE BC, Quicklaw and other resources, and choose digital document management options in our client and internal workings. We are continuing to minimize our carbon footprint in these ways.

Education. Over the past year, our team contributed to public not-for-profit legal education by presenting on a variety of topics to a variety of audiences, including:

• Erin Brandt and James Hsu at the CLE Employment Law Conference on recent and significant court and tribunal decisions within employment law.

• Erin Brandt at the CBA on mentorship and taking risks.

• James and Paula also held open “office hours” for members of our co-working space, Suite Genius, to come in, have a coffee and discuss their workplace questions.

• PortaLaw hosted a B Local event with Spring on the topic of the new BC Pay Transparency Act.

Alongside speaking engagements, our team continues to expand our Resources, a free online resource center for workplace-related legal issues. Through our Resources, we provide accessible legal information for employers and workers through articles and our new case law and legislative updates. Some recent additions/updates include: 

• Court and Tribunal Procedures: BC Civil Resolution Tribunal

• Legal Updates:

  • Human Rights: Gender Identity in the Workplace

  • Mandatory Vaccination Policies

  • CERB is Not Mitigation Income

  • Time Tracking Software Catches Time Theft

  • Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable in BC

  • Expanded Legal Protection for Families

• Essential Employment Law Cases:

  • Duty of Honesty in the Performance of Contracts

  • The Bardal Factors

• The Everyday Guide to Employment Law:

  • Dismissal and Severance

Economic. PortaLaw continued to seek business partners and suppliers that align with our values. We stayed local with our supplier and service providers, including using B Corps, such as Novex and Mills, where possible.

We are proud to announce that PortaLaw and Spring, a fellow Vancouver-based B Corp, are officially partners. Our two companies support each other through a sponsorship agreement involving collaborative community outreach initiatives. Stay tuned in 2024 for updates on our partnership’s progress.

Charitable.

 Access Pro Bono BC

Once again, PortaLaw provided pro bono summary advice through our partnership with Access Pro Bono. We participated in the annual Advice-a-Thon and saw clients at our monthly employment law clinic through the Access Pro Bono Summary Advice Program. In total, we provided 19.5 hours of free summary advice in partnership with Access Pro Bono.

In-House Pro Bono Offers

We continue to offer free summary advice consultations to those affected by the war in Ukraine, specifically: 

• Ukrainian refugees looking for work in BC; and

• Employers looking to hire Ukrainian refugees.

 Recently, we began offering free summary advice consultations to:

• Workers directly experiencing antisemitism or Islamophobia at work; and

• Employers who need to manage antisemitic or Islamophobic conduct in their workplace.

These in-house pro bono offers are intended to help clients who cannot pay for professional legal services.

We also supported our team member, James Hsu, in his annual Movember campaign.

Internal Organization.

One of PortaLaw’s key priorities in 2023 was to articulate exactly who we are, and why. Our Blueprint includes our fundamental building blocks: vision, mission and values. Our Blueprint also includes a custom benefit purpose which will be incorporated into our corporate legal documents in the upcoming fiscal year.

Vision

We envision a world where employers and workers treat each other with respect and empathy, and together, create healthy workplaces.

Mission

We leverage teamwork and technology to provide respectful and dignified legal solutions to our clients’ workplace challenges.

Values

 Joy.

Work should bring you joy.

To our clients: 

We want to help clients solve their workplace problems so they can focus on building their businesses, careers and impacts. We want to do the law stuff, so that our clients can focus on what brings them joy. 

To ourselves: 

As a team, we value joy in our own workplace and personal lives as well. Every team member should prioritize their own goals and happiness and add value to the business in a way that reflects that. We want to create a workplace where individuals can find their joyful balance between life and professional success. 

Honesty. 

PortaLaw’s business is based on trust – between us and our clients, and amongst our team. Underlying this is our commitment to honesty. 

To our clients: 

For clients, this means providing advice that they need to hear. Our clients can trust in the quality and thoughtfulness of our advice, and that we respect the ethical and practical standards of the legal profession.

A cornerstone of commitment to honesty is our transparent pricing model. It fosters predictability in our legal fees, and ensures that clients know what they’re getting, know what we’re doing, and own their decision-making process. 

To ourselves: 

PortaLaw succeeds when each team member is honest with themselves and each other about their needs, strengths, weaknesses, gaps, goals and fears.  

Innovation. 

To our clients and to ourselves: 

We believe that the delivery of legal services is overdue for innovation and we intend to be leaders in our changing industry. This means that we leverage technology wherever it improves the delivery of our mission, and that we stay on top of legal tech. 

But being innovative isn’t just about technology. It’s about systems, processes, workflows, communication styles and so much more.  

We work as a team at PortaLaw – which can be very different from the traditional legal firm model centered around individual partners. We outsource tasks that can be better (and more cost effectively) completed by other suppliers and service providers. We project-manage and scope out our work like our clients do – in other words, more like a business and less like a traditional law firm. 

Humanity. 

To our clients and to ourselves: 

Employment and human rights law is more about people and experiences than contracts and transactions. It is as human-centered as the practice of law gets. We are committed to approach our clients and practice this way, with compassion and empathy. Our clients see our humanity in how we communicate, how we advise and how we relate. 

Benefit Purpose 

PortaLaw is incorporated as a benefit company. We are also a Certified B Corporation. We have committed – legally and morally - to use our business as a vehicle to do good in this world. 

As a benefit company and B Corp, our stakeholders are not just our clients and shareholders. Just as important, we are accountable to our employees, the environment, and our local community. 

We want to use our greatest strength – knowledge of the law and the legal system – to help achieve our overall vision. We serve our benefit stakeholders by sharing that strength. 

To achieve a world where employers and workers treat each other with respect and empathy, and together, create healthy workplaces, broad access to quality legal services must be prioritized. 

We are a legal services hub. 

That is our Benefit Purpose – to be a legal services hub where anyone can find valuable and reliable legal resources. We strive to find a solution for all seeking legal information or advice, whether it be through free online resources, community outreach or for-hire legal services and products.

 

Until next year, 

Paula Krawus + Erin Brandt